The client used a manual process to capture decades worth of corporate performance data from the internet and communicated the data analysis to end users in an Excel spreadsheet. This labour intensive process required far too much time and effort. The end users, who were not fluent in data analytics, had difficulty interpreting and drawing insight from the rows and columns of numbers.

The client challenged Unilytics consultants to devise a data collection process that would save time and resources, and to implement a data visualization solution that would facilitate analysis and provide insight at a glance.

Solution -set up a system to import data from the internet into Tableau, and create a series of interactive visualizations to be automatically updated

Unilytics’ solution involved building a system to capture historical and current data from internet sources. This was accomplished by creating a number of scripts to automatically download the latest stock information. These scripts ran with minimal intervention and communicated using Yahoo! REST APIs to extract data from their web service. Once the stock was downloaded in JSON format the data was imported into a NoSQL MongoDB installation for visualization.

UD³ – Unilytics Dashboard Design & Development methodology was employed to ensure insight would be visually communicated in the most effective way. Using the resulting visualizations as the framework, the system was designed so newly imported data would automatically update existing visualizations.

“Unilytics provided a solution that surpassed my expectations in terms of ease of use, speed and efficiency. Bottom line: the visualizations are so clear they quickly and easily convey the story behind the numbers,” – Chris Chard, Ph.D., Brock University.

Unilytics delivered 9 advanced dashboards that included 14 distinct stock analysis approaches, ranging from moving averages, Bolinger bands, candlestick charts, horizon charts, etc. A data retrieval system was set up by Unilytics to collect and automatically integrate data into these preformatted dashboards.

The optimally designed dashboards reveal insights that can be quickly and easily interpreted by end users. This has opened the doors to analyses that otherwise were too time-intensive or impossible to run. The client is now equipped with true self-serve analytics and has the ability to easily perform queries and explore the data to discover patterns and identify trends.

This is a sustainable solution, so it will save a lot of time and will require significantly less resources in the long run. Better results, less effort.

“The people at Unilytics have been a pleasure to work with. I was impressed by their professionalism, technical expertise and thorough understanding of our analytic requirements.” Chris Chard.

About Brock University

Brock University is a public research university located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Brock offers a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional degrees.